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Adhyāyas / Viśvarūpa-Darśana Yogaḥ / verse 28

Mūla — the verse

Gita Press numbering
यथा नदीनां बहवोऽम्बुवेगाः समुद्रमेवाभिमुखाः द्रवन्ति। तथा तवामी नरलोकवीरा विशन्ति वक्त्राण्यभिविज्वलन्ति
yathā nadīnāṁ bahavo ’mbu-vegāḥ samudram evābhimukhā dravanti tathā tavāmī nara-loka-vīrā viśhanti vaktrāṇy abhivijvalanti
Triṣṭubh (U u u u)

Translation

Swami Gambhīrānanda · follows Śaṅkara-bhāṣya

As the numerous currents of the waters of rivers rush towards the sea alone, so too do those heroes of the human world enter into Your blazing mouths.

हिन्दी अनुवाद — Swami Tejomayānanda

जैसे नदियों के बहुत से जलप्रवाह समुद्र की ओर वेग से बहते हैं, वैसे ही मनुष्यलोक के ये वीर योद्धागण आपके प्रज्वलित मुखों में प्रवेश करते हैं।।

Pronunciation — Vaamshii

from Vaamshii
यथा नदीनाम् बहवो ऽम् बु वेगाः
समुद्र मेवाभि मुखा द्र वन्ति
तथा तवामी नर लोक वीराः
विशन्ति वक्त्राण् यभि विज् वलन्ति
॥ २८ ॥
Pāda meters: Upendravajrā, Upendravajrā, Upendravajrā, Upendravajrā — I = Indravajrā, u = Upendravajrā, s = Śālinī pāda
Read each split group as one breath-unit; hyphens join pādas kept whole for the meter or a compound word. Symbols: # upadhmānīya (visarga before p/ph), % jihvāmūlīya (visarga before k/kh), ऽ avagraha (an elided a). Full method →

Word by word

padārtha
yathāas
nadīnāmof the rivers
bahavaḥmany
ambu-vegāḥwater waves
samudramthe ocean
evaindeed
abhimukhāḥtoward
dravantiflowing rapidly
tathāsimilarly
tavayour
amīthese
nara-loka-vīrāḥkings of human society
viśhantienter
vaktrāṇimouths
abhivijvalantiblazing

Themes

from The Thematic Companion to the Bhagavad Gītā

Meaning — Questions & Solutions

from Q&A with KnA
11.15–11.31The Magnificent, the Magnanimous and the Mighty.

Arjuna beholds all the gods and hosts of beings within the one Form; Brahmā on his lotus, the sages, the celestial serpents; boundless, without beginning, middle or end; with innumerable arms, faces, eyes; blazing immeasurably, “if a thousand suns were to rise at once in the sky”. Then the vision turns terrible: the warriors of both armies rushing into the flaming mouths, some crushed between the teeth, “as moths rush headlong into a blazing fire to their destruction”. The description moves deliberately from wonder (the beauty and vastness) to terror (the devouring) — because the Real is both. A God who is only sweetness is a sentimental idol; the true Absolute contains creation and destruction, the nursery and the crematorium. Arjuna is being shown the whole, not the comfortable half.